But not for the rest of the industry. According to almost every person interviewed for this story, there just aren't any high-quality gay scripts in circulation. ''I swear to you, if there were projects that were visible and good, people would make them,'' says Hairspray producer Craig Zadan, who, with Neil Meron, makes up one of the most successful gay producing teams in town. ''No one's brought them to us.'' It doesn't help that the scripts that are out there can't seem to get off the ground. The Front Runner, about a cross-country coach who falls in love with one of his runners, and The Dreyfus Affair, about a romance between two major-league ballplayers, have been in development hell for years. And Zadan and Meron themselves have spent 16 years trying to get The Mayor of Castro Street, about slain gay civil rights icon Harvey Milk, on the screen. So gay film is caught in a bitter catch-22. Because studios don't greenlight gay movies, great writers don't bother crafting them — so there's nothing for the studios to produce. ''Three times I've been approached to do the Harvey Milk story,'' says gay screenwriter John August (Big Fish). ''And I would love to. But my favorite genre of movie is movies that get made.''
Ironically, it may get made, just not by Zadan and Meron. Director Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho) is poised to direct Sean Penn in a competing film called Milk, financed by producer Michael London (Sideways). (Focus Features, which released Brokeback, is in talks to distribute it.) In 1977, Milk became the first prominent out gay man in American history to win elected office — only to be gunned down in San Francisco City Hall 11 months later. The astonishing story was explored in an Oscar-winning 1984 documentary. Now, although Zadan and Meron have lined up Bryan Singer (Superman Returns) to direct — and Steve Carell tells EW he might want to star — their project will likely die if Milk begins shooting in January as planned.
Even one Milk movie is a step in the right direction, and a hint that Brokeback's achievements did not go entirely unnoticed. ''There's just no way Brokeback didn't break down significant barriers about the way [independent] financiers think,'' London says. ''If there was some sense that gay subject matter doesn't work, we wouldn't be making Milk.'' London — who is, for the record, straight — suspects that if this movie is successful, the industry will realize that there's gold in gay film. ''Maybe Milk will make clear that audiences are way less conservative about this than conventional wisdom holds,'' he says. ''I don't think audiences care as much about distinctions in sexuality as generations did 20 years ago.'' One can only hope. Brokeback's Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar have carried the almost impossible weight of cinema history. It would be nice if they could share the burden.
What does J.K. Rowling's decision to out Dumbledore mean for gay consumers of pop culture? See EW columnist Mark Harris' answer in The Final Cut
